


Beloved

by Ilerre



Series: The Walking Dead Prompts - Dixoncest / Dixcest [9]
Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Brotherly Love, Friendship, Love, M/M, Sibling Incest, Sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-06
Updated: 2015-08-06
Packaged: 2018-04-13 08:02:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4514244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ilerre/pseuds/Ilerre
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Why do you call Daryl 'baby'?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Beloved

**Author's Note:**

> **Prompt submitted by Higgystar:  
>  "Why do you call Daryl 'baby'?" ******

0

"Why do you call Daryl 'baby'?"

Merle huffed and glanced sideways at Glenn. The kid had such a honest look on his face, Merle didn't have the heart to tell him to piss off. 

"Uh," he muttered. "I guess that's always been what I called since he was born."

Glenn looked mildly exasperated and Merle bit back a chuckle. "But _why_?" the kid insisted. 

Merle sighed and rubbed his forehead, leaning over and putting his chin on top of Daryl's head, nestled on his laps like a cat, on that awful flowery couch resting in the living room of the house they'd been given in the supposedly Alexandria safe zone. 

The whole group seemed just as interested in his answer, and for a moment, Merle nearly wished Daryl would talk, but seeing as he'd finally managed to fall asleep after days of staying alert and on guard, Merle wouldn't wake him for anything. 

"'Cause for the first year of his life or so, Daryl didn'ave a name, and people only called him 'The Baby'," he finally answered, looking pointedly at the Asian kid. "Da' never acknowledged him as his son, and Ma' couldn't care less." He hummed and tightened his arms around Daryl's waist, wincing as he felt the jutting bones of his hips and all of his ribs even under his leather vest. "I only learnt 'bout Daryl when he was 'bout ten months old. I was…havin' a bad time." 

The looked uncomfortable because they all remembered the Merle he used to be at the quarry. Violent, angry, and very close to use the drugs he had hidden on his bike. His vow, so long ago, to _get_ clean and _stay_ clean and stop messing around to care for Daryl nearly forgotten. 

"So, when I came home and discovered I had a lil' brother 'n he didna even have a name, I just went 'n put his name down in registry." He pursed his lips and pressed them to Daryl's temple. "They didna want me to write 'Baby'," he confessed somewhat sadly, and they all laughed. "So, I put Daryl instead."

Carol hummed in sudden comprehension. "Which means 'beloved'."

Merle turned away in sudden embarrassment and tried to ignore the women's cooing, and the men's amused faces.  

Grimes cleared his throat and bit back a smirk. "That's…that's actually quite, uh, nice." 

Merle grimaced at the man but didn't say anything. He'd never regret giving Daryl his name, even thirty or so years later, the sentiment behind it was still as strong, if not more so. 

And calling his little brother 'baby' had always given Daryl a sense of belonging. Even if their father had been an asshole and their mother a right bitch, at least, Daryl was Merle's.

0

**Author's Note:**

> This work is unbetaed. Please feel free to point any typos you saw or missing words, or any sentences that just don't make any sense :)
> 
> [SUBMIT A PROMPT HERE](http://hillbells.tumblr.com/submit)


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